In my opinion, getting "stuck" is one of the most un-fun parts of life. I sit and wait while life moves around me. Ugh! Read on as Pat Layton offers practical help for your stuck moments.
Elisa
3 Simple Steps to Getting Your Life Unstuck!
By Pat Layton
If I want to make my youngest grandkids laugh until sweet tea spews from their noses, I remind them of the time we went tubing in the North Georgia Mountains. They love reliving the day we all piled into their mamma's SUV and trekked over to the rafting hut. We put on our life jackets and piled into four large black tubes the size of Mini Coopers and divided three kids amongst four adults. The water was high and flowing pretty gently.
We were all excited for the "about three hours" we were about to enjoy on the cool mountain river. We were not thirty minutes into that journey when Pop (what the grandkids call my honey) found himself lifted up out of the flowing river and stuck up on a slippery rock. We all grabbed low-lying tree limbs to wait up while he and Bella (who had immediately chosen him as her tube driver), jiggled back and forth as if on a see-saw until they finally slipped loose and rejoined us on the water. It was all good fun-until ten minutes later, when Pop was stuck again.
The bad news was this little delay in our "just long enough" journey kept happening over and over again. It wasn't long before Pop began to lose his laugh and Bella started to cry and ask to move over to "G's tube." We ended up on the river for close to six hours with either Pop or one of the other adult tube-tenders stuck between scary rocks as the pace of the river became faster and more difficult to navigate. The kids were cold and the adults were exhausted from comforting them and questionably assuring them, "We will get unstuck and it will all be OK!"
I don't know about you but for me, life is a lot like that tube ride. It seems I am always moving from one STUCK moment to another in marriage, family, job, kids, ministry assignments, health and fitness ...! Right?! Just when I think I have something "mastered" or at least moving along at an even pace-wham, something gets in the way of my smooth day!
I have learned 3 key warning signs that indicate potential problems in my life:
#1-Stinkin' Thinkin': When I allow my thoughts to get hung up on what is wrong with the world rather than all that is right and good I end up Stuck.
#2-No Play Days: When I allow the routines of life to take over and not make time for fun, adventure, learning new things and getting into new spaces, I dry up and get nowhere. We all need bit of rest and play to save the day.
#3-No focus: When I forget my best YES and let anything and everything drag me this way and that, I find my self STUCK in resentment, overloaded and underwhelmed. It is nobody's fault but my own. Sometimes I have to take STOCK and push myself out of stuck. Sometimes I just need to clear the calendar. Say no. Remember my priorities and my limitations. I have just had a season like this and the fresh white space in my days has rocked me FREE!
Getting STUCK is easy and often happens when we can't prevent it. Let's commit to taking charge of what we CAN do to get and stay UNSTUCK.
Pat Layton is a passionate and inspiring author, speaker and leadership coach who has founded a variety of organizations during her 25 years in full time ministry. Her latest book, Life Unstuck: Finding Peace with the Past, Purpose in the Present and Passion for the Future, dives deeper into this topic with 4 paths to freedom. For your own personal Life Unstuck Assessment, email Pat at patlayton@mac.com. Pat's most treasured titles are wife, mom, and "G" (grandmother). You can join her adventure of faith at www.patlayton.net.